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Story: The Men and Women of North American Aviation: 1942

22 photos

Kansas City, Kansas. B-25 bombers on the flight ramp ready for a test flight at the North American Aviation, Inc.

Kansas City, Kansas. A B-25 bomber on the final assembly line at North American Aviation Inc.

Kansas City, Kansas. B-25 bombers lined up at North American Aviation, Inc., almost ready for their first test flight

Kansas City, Kansas. B-25 bombers and tractors that haul them on the assembly line at North American Aviation, Inc. The planes are ready for their first test flight

A mill operator in North American Aviation's huge machine shop turns out another of the thousands of parts for modern combat planes. All scrap metal is sent to salvage plant

Rudder controls are assembled by men and women on North American Aviation's P-51 fighter final assembly line

On the final assembly line at North American Aviation, men and women work together adjusting the controls of P-51 Mustang fighters for the United States Army Air Forces

A woman employee on the P-51 Mustang fighter assembly line at North American Aviation adjusts the engine controls before the plane moves down the assembly floor

One of North American Aviation's many women employees assembles a B-25 tank structure

Captain C.R. Douglass, Assistant Army Air Forces Representative at North American Aviation, looks aloft before taking another P-51 fighter into the air for a routine test flight

Kansas City, Kansas. Men working on two floors, assembling parts of a B-25 bomber, at the North American Aviation Inc. plant

Kansas City, Kansas. A young woman and two men, employees of North American Aviation, Inc., riveting the skin assembly of a plane

Kansas City, Kansas. Employees working on a motor assembly of a B-25 bomber at North American Aviation, Inc.

Kansas City, Kansas. A B-25 bomber built by North American Aviation, Inc.

Partial view of North American Aviation's B-25 final assembly line

North American Aviation's P-51 fuselage overhead conveyor line

A Negro woman at North American Aviation uses an electric hand drill to drill holes in a sheet metal assembly prior to riveting

Girls eat lunch together at their work benches. Lunch carts (Travelunch) go through the factory and enable employees of North American Aviation to buy their lunches without leaving the plant

A woman welder at North American Aviation works on a sub-assembly for one of the huge tanks that go into the B-25 bombers

A partial view of the outside assembly line at North American Aviation. Ideal weather allows California factories to work outdoors. This is called the "Sunshine Assembly Line"'

Kansas City, Kansas. Two men at work in the center section assembly of a B-25 bomber at North American Aviation, Inc.

A scale wind tunnel model of North American Aviation's P-51 fighter is prepared by two model shop employees before another test is made to determine its flight characteristics. All measurements on these models are within two thousandths of an inch